The Darkness (SwanQueen)
by The Flying Ostrich
Summary: My take on the Season 4 finale. As Emma Swan watches the secret love of her life, Regina Mills, get devoured by the darkness, she has only seconds to react, and to say goodbye.


The silence was terrifying.

And not because it was silent. Because it was alive.

The souls of the six people were leaking out of their bodies. The fear, the horror, the apprehension… it was palpable.

They knew it was coming. And it was inevitable. The Darkness had escaped Mr. Gold's body, and it was now looking for a new host.

It was traveling through the streets, and you could feel it. It was an invisible force, and its malevolence was slowly creeping up each person's spine.

Two pairs of eyes locked. One pair was green, the other pair was brown.

They knew. They both knew.

 _It's me,_ Regina said. Her words were silent, but Emma could hear them. She could hear the screaming coming from the eyes that were digging into her own. _The Darkness is coming for me._

Emma realized that Regina's eyes were always screaming. They were like portals that opened up to an entirely different dimension. Despite the miles and miles of walls that Regina built around herself, Emma only needed to look into her eyes to know exactly what she was feeling.

For Regina at least, her eyes weren't just eyes. They were objects from which emotions rained out of her soul. Everyone seemed oblivious to this fact, for all except Emma seemed to believe that Regina was still cold & heartless. The Savior was the only person who wasn't so blind. She had seen the pure soul buried underneath the mounds of darkness. Emma really was a savior. She'd saved the queen from the most terrifying monster of all; herself.

The asphalt below them began to shake, and Regina's eyes widened. Emma felt a pang in her gut. How was it that she was the only one that could pick up on the distress signals the woman was so clearly sending out? She wanted to cling on to the mayor, to hold her close, to do anything that would let her know that it was going to be okay. The terror in the brunette woman's eyes made her heart break.

Emma's eyes roamed over the gorgeous face before her. Illuminated by the gentle moonlight, her beauty was only exaggerated by the sense of doom that hung around them.

It was coming, and the women were sure they only had a few short seconds left. The knowledge was daunting. Each breath was drenched in its own awful beauty. Breathing was something so simple, so beautiful—something that would never be the same again.

 _Emma,_ screamed Regina with her eyes. Although the word had no sound, Emma could hear the desperation, the longing, the guilt.

She tried to tell Regina that it was okay, that she was forgiven, but she wouldn't listen. Or perhaps Emma just wasn't as telepathic as Regina was.

Emma could still sense the guilt raining out of Regina's frail body. _I'm sorry Emma,_ said Regina's eyes. _I am so so sorry._

And she was. Emma could see how Regina's guilt was eating her alive every day. Sometimes she was so haunted by her past that her emotion-filled eyes looked absolutely empty. Regina was so broken that sometimes she felt she wasn't alive at all.

Regina's eyes were beginning to fill with tears. Each one released just a bit of the chaos that raged inside her. She was going to become the Dark One. And before that happened, she needed to be forgiven. She needed it.

She roamed Emma's tear-stained face. She hadn't noticed when the blonde had started crying, but now the startlight clearly highlighted the wet, shimmering trails that leaked down her jaw.

Something in Regina snapped in half. It made her soul ache to see someone so strong and brave look so weak and broken. Emma's eyes were like diamonds; hard & glistening. They reached into Regina's soul, trying to relay an important message. But Regina was so frightened that she was unable to read it.

There was a sudden roaring approaching them from the far side of the street. It sounded like the low growl of a tiger's purr, or the hushed sound of a raging river. It sent chills traveling up Regina's arms and her eyes widened under Emma's startled gaze.

It was coming.

The horror roared into Regina's stomach and seemed to eat her from the inside. She could barely breathe, let alone think, but one thought was tearing through her mind. She needed to be forgiven.

Regina's life had been a thunderstorm of darkness. Her life was the rain, the thunder, the lightning. Nothing had a meaning. Nothing had a purpose. Nothing was worth it.

Until Emma. Henry had been the sun, of course, but Emma was the break in the clouds that let the light come pouring in.

Emma had saved her.

Emma had been the first person besides Henry to _mean_ something to her.

And what had she done to repay her? She'd made Emma's life a living hell. That was something she had regretted every day.

 _Please Emma,_ she begged. _Forgive me._

And Emma's eyes roamed over the woman's face. She saw her flawless skin, her blood-red lips, her soulful eyes, her long eyelashes, the scar right above her mouth. She saw her fear and her pain and her guilt. She saw her desperation and her love and her passion and her hope. She saw _her._

And their past melted away. There wasn't any anger or resentment. Sure, there had been some at one point. Regina had caused her family unimaginable pain.

But after all she'd been through—after all _they_ had been through, together—how could Emma possibly be mad? She couldn't be mad at this woman. At this crazy, remarkable woman.

Emma loved her. She loved her passion and her fire. She loved her beauty, inside and out. And most of all, she loved the way she tried. Emma felt like a fraud sometimes. She had been labeled "the savior", and yet all she had done was complete a prophecy. There was no struggle for her, no fight. The true hero was the woman standing in front of her, the woman that had somehow had the courage to defeat the monsters that lived inside of her. For fighting your own demons is the most powerful battle of all.

In an instant, the gentle roaring became infinitely louder. Everything was drenched in terror, and even the steady ground beneath their feet was trembling in fear.

Snow latched on to Charming. Perhaps Hook or Robin wanted to latch on to their girls. But those girls' eyes were still latched on to each other's.

It whipped around the corner, writhing into and around itself in a great black mass, its own malevolence feeding its movement. It was like ink being spilt onto paper. It was fast, it was ferocious, it was fearsome. It was far greater than they had imagined.

The two women finally tore their eyes away from each other to gaze at the monster before them. It should have had an impact, it should have been awesome and lasting. But there wasn't even time to process what was happening before the creature had its inky tentacles wrapped around Regina's body.

She didn't even fight. That's what killed Emma. Regina didn't even fight it. She had known this was going to happen, and she had accepted that fact.

The darkness dug a hole into Regina's breast, rooting itself deep into her heart. Her eyes were frightened, scared. She looked so small, so weak, so vulnerable. Robin tried to get her to look at him, but she had eyes for Emma only.

The tears were raining out of Emma's chest now like a storm. Everything was so loud and chaotic and terrible that she was hardly aware of what was happening, but a strange sensation in her throat made her feel like she must have been screaming.

This fear was worse than anything Emma had ever felt. It was worse than when they were waiting for the darkness to come. This fear, the horror of watching the Darkness take place in the woman Emma had fallen in love with was heartbreaking.

The world was a dark and terrible place. It had a way of poisoning pure souls with its toxins, and Regina was one of them. But sometimes, in very special circumstances, a person could be so good at their core, that no matter how dark and crippled their souls had become, they always had the power to bring back the light. Only the purest of souls had the strength and courage inside of them to keep trying even on the days that they could hardly breathe. Regina was one of these that possessed that power, and it was a strength and a beauty more powerful than anthing Emma had ever known.

And to have someone that had tried so hard to fix the damage upon themselves to have it all erased in an instant was unacceptable.

Without thinking, Emma lunged forward.

"No!" She screamed, tears blocking her vision. "You've worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed!" The words roared through her soul, giving her heart the power to do what needed to happen next.

She reached towards the darkness, beckoning it, welcoming it.

It gladly obliged, shooting out of Regina's heart and into her own.

It was an unimaginable pain to harbor all of this darkness, and Emma silently became even more inspired by how strong of a woman Regina really was to battle all of this. She felt the darkness staining her heart like spilt ink & tainting all her thoughts. She felt empty, barren.

There was only one thing left in the world that mattered at this moment.

And that was Regina.

She watched as the almost-Dark One tried desperately to stop Emma from saving her.

 _Emma please,_ she begged, and her eyes were screaming louder than they ever had. They looked they were about to break.

But Emma only smiled.

She said her own silent words, praying that Regina could hear them. _This is what true love is,_ she said. _True love is a part of every happy ending. And this is mine—giving you a chance at your own is all I ever need._

Regina watched, brokenly, as the only person she'd ever truly loved was consumed by The Darkness.

But even then, there was still hope in both of their eyes. There was enough hope for both of them to silently scream one last thing,

 _I love you,_ they both said, until finally the last drops of darkness were sucked into Emma's body and the roaring world around them was subdued into a stunned silence.

 _ **Author's Note~ I hope you all enjoyed, and are having a lovely day. This was supposed to be a oneshot, but if you lovely readers enjoy it enough, i might consider lengthening it into a full story :) Just let me know.**_

 _ **-James**_


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